Never driven in snow! Help!!!
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Joined: Jun 2008
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From: Manhattan, KS
i-70 is a very good highway, driving through the kansas plains the toughest thing is the wind gusts, they you have to pay attention cause they blow you around plenty good. it was pretty bad when we went out to hays for hunting.
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Joined: Dec 1969
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From: Riverside, CA --- USA
I agree with previous posts in that you want to secure them in bed as best you can... even the weight in center of vehicle is good. and throw a tarp over all of it!
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Joined: Apr 2008
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My first time towing a trailer with my F150 was from California to Colorado. The Eisenhower/Johnson tunnel was the worst part. Snow wasn't the problem, but the ice sure was. Everytime I have driven the tunnels, it is mostly in the shade, so it gets icy fast. Maybe I should change my travel time to avoid that.
The truck handled it alright...the trailer was a little loose. But our top speed was only 25 mphs in with 4 wheel drive on just to get traction. All in all, we made it safe. No chains. (Not prepared as well as I would have liked).
The truck handled it alright...the trailer was a little loose. But our top speed was only 25 mphs in with 4 wheel drive on just to get traction. All in all, we made it safe. No chains. (Not prepared as well as I would have liked).
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Joined: Feb 2007
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From: N.E. Iowa
I wouldn't be too concerned about not having 4 wheel drive. I drove to work this morning in 4 inches of snow and I never turned mine on.
Be aware of black ice. If there is visible ice or the possibility of black ice avoid using your brakes and don't make sudden maneuvers. You have to think further ahead than you would driving in normal road conditions. Stay much further away from other vehicles than you normally would if at all possible.
I am more concerned about other careless\inexperienced drivers running into me than I am about the road conditions.
Be aware of black ice. If there is visible ice or the possibility of black ice avoid using your brakes and don't make sudden maneuvers. You have to think further ahead than you would driving in normal road conditions. Stay much further away from other vehicles than you normally would if at all possible.
I am more concerned about other careless\inexperienced drivers running into me than I am about the road conditions.
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Joined: Jan 2006
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From: Vienna, Georgia
I am sorry I am so late in replying to this thread. Just to give an update.. I went through with it!! Both the wedding and the trip! We haven't had any internet since we got married, until now...
I wanted to thank each and every one of you for all your kind help. It was GREAT advice. I think we encountered EVERY obstacle you folks mentioned, except getting stuck. We had an easy time getting out to Colorado.. It had been days since the last snow, and we didn't see any until we were in the mountains.
The wind blew so hard in Kansas that my truck wouldn't hold 85mph in overdrive! We got 12.5 mpg across Kansas! We had to stop at Home Gettho, and buy some earplugs cause the wind noise was so loud! Kansas is HUGE!!!!!!! What a desolate place! In Georgia, we build houses on hills. In Kansas they build them in holes to escape the wind!! The Chateau Avalon Hotel was AWESOME! I couldn't recommend a better place to take your wife. (tip to men).... $90 gets you a gold laced rose.... It'll be the best $90 you'll ever spend! My wife tells everybody. We had the rose petals allover etc....
Two things nobody told me....
1: My tuck had NO POWER in the mountains!!! The elevation killed it! It wouldn't do ANYTHING! Those stupid subaru wrx's just BLASTED by me the WHOLE TIME!
2: Ya can't breathe!!!!!! My home is at 352ft elevation. Our hotel was at over 9,000ft elevation. I had a headache, nosebleeds, and had to stop to rest while walking around town!
I replaced my tires right before we left home, and I threw 2 of the best looking old ones in the back... In case it was nasty, I figured I could get them studded, and not ruin my new ones! There was no ice or snow on the road, so I found a parking lot that was covered in snow, and tried my hand at driving on it. It is stupidly slippery! But at least I got a feel for it.
We needed snow chains for our feet. We looked like a bunch of morons, slipping and slidding allover the sidewalk, gawking at the snow, etc! It's crazy in Colorado. It can be 28 degrees and all you need is a long sleeve shirt and jeans to stay warm (if the wind isn't blowing). In Georgia, when its 28 degrees, 99% humidity, you freeze your tail off, the schools close, people freak out, pipes bust, etc!
The last day, it started snowing very hard. We jumped on the interstate (I-70) and started home. All the semi-trucks had their chains on, but I figured we could make it without ours.... Well, we almost didn't! My truck would BARELY climb the hills! We were going about 30mph by the time we topped the hills, spinning all over the place!
I didn't think too much about this comment when I read it:
I hit a deer a few years ago, and it knocked my left blinker lense out of the socket. I just stuck it back in, and it has been holding ever since.. until Kansas....
On the way home, the wind blew so hard across the road, that the big trucks were getting off the highway. When we got to our hotel in Kansas City, I noticed that my right blinker housing had blown off the truck! All that was left was the amber blinker bulb, and the socket! So I zip tied it to the side of the body, to keep it from smacking the side of the truck! It still worked!
I wanted to thank each and every one of you for all your kind help. It was GREAT advice. I think we encountered EVERY obstacle you folks mentioned, except getting stuck. We had an easy time getting out to Colorado.. It had been days since the last snow, and we didn't see any until we were in the mountains.
The wind blew so hard in Kansas that my truck wouldn't hold 85mph in overdrive! We got 12.5 mpg across Kansas! We had to stop at Home Gettho, and buy some earplugs cause the wind noise was so loud! Kansas is HUGE!!!!!!! What a desolate place! In Georgia, we build houses on hills. In Kansas they build them in holes to escape the wind!! The Chateau Avalon Hotel was AWESOME! I couldn't recommend a better place to take your wife. (tip to men).... $90 gets you a gold laced rose.... It'll be the best $90 you'll ever spend! My wife tells everybody. We had the rose petals allover etc....
Two things nobody told me....
1: My tuck had NO POWER in the mountains!!! The elevation killed it! It wouldn't do ANYTHING! Those stupid subaru wrx's just BLASTED by me the WHOLE TIME!
2: Ya can't breathe!!!!!! My home is at 352ft elevation. Our hotel was at over 9,000ft elevation. I had a headache, nosebleeds, and had to stop to rest while walking around town!
I replaced my tires right before we left home, and I threw 2 of the best looking old ones in the back... In case it was nasty, I figured I could get them studded, and not ruin my new ones! There was no ice or snow on the road, so I found a parking lot that was covered in snow, and tried my hand at driving on it. It is stupidly slippery! But at least I got a feel for it.
We needed snow chains for our feet. We looked like a bunch of morons, slipping and slidding allover the sidewalk, gawking at the snow, etc! It's crazy in Colorado. It can be 28 degrees and all you need is a long sleeve shirt and jeans to stay warm (if the wind isn't blowing). In Georgia, when its 28 degrees, 99% humidity, you freeze your tail off, the schools close, people freak out, pipes bust, etc!
The last day, it started snowing very hard. We jumped on the interstate (I-70) and started home. All the semi-trucks had their chains on, but I figured we could make it without ours.... Well, we almost didn't! My truck would BARELY climb the hills! We were going about 30mph by the time we topped the hills, spinning all over the place!
I didn't think too much about this comment when I read it:
On the way home, the wind blew so hard across the road, that the big trucks were getting off the highway. When we got to our hotel in Kansas City, I noticed that my right blinker housing had blown off the truck! All that was left was the amber blinker bulb, and the socket! So I zip tied it to the side of the body, to keep it from smacking the side of the truck! It still worked!
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From: Vienna, Georgia
Things I learned.....
1: In Georgia, I keep my drinks/candy in a big cooler full of ice in the bed of the truck, to keep them cool. In Colorado, you put the drinks in the cooler (with no ice) to KEEP THEM FROM FREEZING SOLID!!!!!
2: When you pick a hotel in Colorado, get one that has a heated garage. This was the best thing I did on the whole trip! No slippery ice to walk over to get to the truck, no ice to scrape off the windshield, and the truck is already warm when you get in it! I left my truck outside the first night. When I got in it the next morning, the edge said the engine coolant temp was 2. I didn't think it would crank that cold, but it did.
3: When you get below 1/2 tank of fuel in Kansas, start looking for a gas station!
4: The wind blows hard in Kansas!
5: Seriously, the wind blows junk all over the place in Kansas, including you!
6: Georgia snow is like foam on pi$$ compared to snow in Colorado!
7: It gets cold out west.
8: There is no ethnic diversity in Colorado/Kansas....... Yeah, that's a nice way to put it!
I'm not trying to be rude, it's really very strange compared to where I come from.
9: Air is thin at 9,000 ft. Book about 3 days of sitting around the hotel getting used to the constant nausia and lightheadedness.
10: Driving in snow is dangerous. Driving up and down hills in snow is rediculous!
11: What the heck is 85 octane gasoline? My truck ran fine on it.... but...
12: NO SWEET TEA!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HECK????? How can you people drink coke all the time!!!!!??? Jeez. Only one place in Colorado has it, that's the "Motherloaded Tavern" in Breckenridge! Thank goodness for that place!
13: NO WAFFLE HOUSE!!! There's a waffle house in every little town in Georgia, but not west of the mississippi!! And they say that Georgia is backward!
14: Kansas people make fence posts out of rocks. I guess they had to make their fences out of something, since there are no trees.
15: I got my truck up to 110mph on I-70 in Kansas and nobody cared. Cause there wasn't anybody there to care!!
16: Better think about all the things you southerners have stored in your truck... Like that emergency bottle of water under the rear seat, that tube of sunscreen in the door pocket, that bottle of cold medicine you keep in the glove box.... They'll freeze and bust overnight in Colorado! Even though they're in the truck cab!
17: Better carry extra windshield washer fluid. I ran through 2 gallons worth in 5 days! There's a nasty brown sludge that lives on the roads, and it coats the windshield like paint.
Well, that's enough for now. Thanks again for all of you folk's help.
1: In Georgia, I keep my drinks/candy in a big cooler full of ice in the bed of the truck, to keep them cool. In Colorado, you put the drinks in the cooler (with no ice) to KEEP THEM FROM FREEZING SOLID!!!!!
2: When you pick a hotel in Colorado, get one that has a heated garage. This was the best thing I did on the whole trip! No slippery ice to walk over to get to the truck, no ice to scrape off the windshield, and the truck is already warm when you get in it! I left my truck outside the first night. When I got in it the next morning, the edge said the engine coolant temp was 2. I didn't think it would crank that cold, but it did.
3: When you get below 1/2 tank of fuel in Kansas, start looking for a gas station!
4: The wind blows hard in Kansas!
5: Seriously, the wind blows junk all over the place in Kansas, including you!
6: Georgia snow is like foam on pi$$ compared to snow in Colorado!
7: It gets cold out west.
8: There is no ethnic diversity in Colorado/Kansas....... Yeah, that's a nice way to put it!
I'm not trying to be rude, it's really very strange compared to where I come from.9: Air is thin at 9,000 ft. Book about 3 days of sitting around the hotel getting used to the constant nausia and lightheadedness.
10: Driving in snow is dangerous. Driving up and down hills in snow is rediculous!
11: What the heck is 85 octane gasoline? My truck ran fine on it.... but...
12: NO SWEET TEA!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HECK????? How can you people drink coke all the time!!!!!??? Jeez. Only one place in Colorado has it, that's the "Motherloaded Tavern" in Breckenridge! Thank goodness for that place!
13: NO WAFFLE HOUSE!!! There's a waffle house in every little town in Georgia, but not west of the mississippi!! And they say that Georgia is backward!
14: Kansas people make fence posts out of rocks. I guess they had to make their fences out of something, since there are no trees.
15: I got my truck up to 110mph on I-70 in Kansas and nobody cared. Cause there wasn't anybody there to care!!
16: Better think about all the things you southerners have stored in your truck... Like that emergency bottle of water under the rear seat, that tube of sunscreen in the door pocket, that bottle of cold medicine you keep in the glove box.... They'll freeze and bust overnight in Colorado! Even though they're in the truck cab!
17: Better carry extra windshield washer fluid. I ran through 2 gallons worth in 5 days! There's a nasty brown sludge that lives on the roads, and it coats the windshield like paint.
Well, that's enough for now. Thanks again for all of you folk's help.
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 439
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From: NC
Throw some sand bags in the bed, some condoms in the glove box, and you'll be set! I just went on my honeymoon to breck back in January and it was awesome. Enjoy it, I had never seen the Rockies and I was speechless from Denver to the mountain! Congrats!!
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Joined: May 2008
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From: Skaneateles, NY
dont forget to throw sandbags in your bed to keep your back end from sliding, for the winters around here where we get alot of snow I put about 300lbs and it helps out a ton in the traction department and then if you ever get stuck on ice cut a bag open and pour it around you tires.. it works.